Homelessness
]] Homelessness (British English: also rough sleeping) is the condition and social category of people without a regular house or dwelling because they cannot afford or are otherwise unable to maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack, "fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence."United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, "Federal Definition of Homeless" The actual legal definition varies from country to country, or among different entities or institutions in the same country or region."Glossary defining homelessness" The term homelessness may also include people whose primary night time residence is in a homeless shelter, in an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized, or in a public or private place not designed for use as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.Office of Applied Studies, United States Department of Health and Human Services,"Terminology"United States Code, Title 42, Chapter 119, Subchapter I, § 11302. United States Code: General definition of a homeless individual. Some estimate that there are about 100 million homeless people worldwide.[[Human Rights]: More Than 100 Million Homeless Worldwide] The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines a "chronically homeless" person as "an unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more, or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years."HUD working definition of Chronically homeless History of homelessness : man lying down on pier, New York City docks, 1935.]] Great Britain and the USA Early history through the 1800s Following the Peasants' Revolt, British constables were authorised under a 1383 statute to collar vagabonds and force them to show support; if they could not, the penalty was gaol. Vagabonds could be sentenced to the stocks for three days and nights; in 1530, whipping was added. The presumption was that vagabonds were unlicensed beggars. In 1547, a bill was passed that subjected vagrants to some of the more extreme provisions of the criminal law, namely two years servitude and branding with a "V" as the penalty for the first offense and death for the second. Large numbers of vagabonds were among the convicts transported to the American colonies in the 18th century. Convict Voyages (1): Overview, by Anthony Vaver, Early American Crime scene, January 6, 2009 During the 16th century in England, the state first tried to give housing to vagrants instead of punishing them, by introducing bridewells to take virgins and train them for a profession. In the 17th and 18th centuries, these were replaced by workhouses but these were intended to discourage too much reliance on state help. , Vienna, Austria, 1900.]] The growing movement toward social concern sparked the development of rescue missions, such as America's first rescue mission, the New York City Rescue Mission, founded in 1872 by Jerry and Maria McAuley.New York City Rescue Mission http://www.nycrescue.org/ For a history see http://www.nycrescue.org/history.php in the 1800s]] , United States of America (1890)]] In smaller towns, there were hobos, who temporarily lived near train tracks and hopped onto trains to various destinations. Especially following the American Civil War, a large number of homeless men formed part of a counterculture known as "hobohemia" all over America. This phenomenon re-surged in the 1930s during and after the Great Depression.Depastino, Todd, "Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America", Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2003. ISBN 0226143783. (Interview with Todd Depastino)"Riding the Rails", American Experience PBS series. Early 20th century How the Other Half Lives later inspired Jack London's The People of the Abyss (1903). This raised public awareness, causing some changes in building codes and some social conditions. These were later replaced by dormitory housing ("spikes") provided by local boroughs, and these were researched by the writer George Orwell. By the 1930s in England, there were 30,000 people living in these facilities. In 1933, George Orwell wrote about poverty in London and Paris, in his book Down and Out in Paris and London. In general, in most countries, many towns and cities had an area which contained the poor, transients, and afflicted, such as a "skid row". In New York City, for example, there was an area known as "the Bowery", traditionally, where alcoholics were to be found sleeping on the streets, bottle in hand. The Great Depression of the 1930s caused a devastating epidemic of poverty, hunger, and homelessness. There were two million homeless people migrating across the United States.Overproduction of Goods, Unequal Distribution of Wealth, High Unemployment, and Massive Poverty, From: President's Economic Council once was synonymous with homelessness, it has since become an avenue of high-priced luxury condominiums that jockey for space with its past.]] In the 1960s, the nature and growing problem of homelessness changed in England as public concern grew. The number of people living "rough" in the streets had increased dramatically. However, beginning with the Conservative administration's Rough Sleeper Initiative, the number of people sleeping rough in London fell dramatically. This initiative was supported further by the incoming Labour administration from 2009 onwards with the publication of the 'Coming in from the Cold' strategy published by the Rough Sleepers Unit, which proposed and delivered a massive increase in the number of hostel bed spaces in the capital and an increase in funding for street outreach teams, who work with rough sleepers to enable them to access services. Later 20th century However, modern homelessness, started as a result of the economic stresses in society, reduction in the availability of affordable housing, such as single room occupancies (SROs), for poorer people. In the United States, in the 1970s, the deinstitutionalisation of patients from state psychiatric hospitals was a precipitating factor which seeded the homeless population, especially in urban areas such as New York City. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 was a pre-disposing factor in setting the stage for homelessness in the United States. Long term psychiatric patients were released from state hospitals into SROs and supposed to be sent to community mental health centers for treatment and follow-up. It never quite worked out properly, the community mental health centers mostly did not materialize, and this population largely was found living in the streets soon thereafter with no sustainable support system. Also, as real estate prices and neighborhood pressure increased to move these people out of their areas, the SROs diminished in number, putting most of their residents in the streets. Other populations were mixed in later, such as people losing their homes for economic reasons, and those with addictions (although alcoholic hobos had been visible as homeless people since the 1890s, and those stereotypes fueled public perceptions of homeless people in general), the elderly, and others. Many places where people were once allowed freely to loiter, or purposefully be present, such as churches, public libraries and atriums, became stricter as the homeless population grew larger and increasingly congregated in these places. As a result, many churches closed their doors when services were not being held, libraries began enforcing "no eyes shut" and sometimes dresscode policies, and most places hired private security guards to carry out these policies, creating a social tension. Many public toilets were closed. woman and her dog]] This banished the homeless population to sidewalks, parks, under bridges, and the like. They also lived in the subway and railroad tunnels in New York City. They seemingly became socially invisible, which was the apparent effect of many of the enforcement policies. The homeless shelters, which were generally night shelters, made the homeless leave in the morning to whatever they could manage and return in the evening when the beds in the shelters opened up again for sleeping. There were some daytime shelters where the homeless could go, instead of being stranded on the streets, and they could be helped, get counseling, avail themselves of resources, meals, and otherwise spend their day until returning to their overnight sleeping arrangements. An example of such a day center shelter model is Saint Francis House in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in the early 1980s, which opens for the homeless all year long during the daytime hours and was originally based on the settlement house model.Keane, Thomas, Jr., "Greiff's activism isn't just a good act", Friday, July 4, 2003 ]] Many homeless keep all their possessions with them because they have no access to storage. There was also the reality of the "bag" people, the shopping cart people, and the soda can collectors (known as binners or dumpster divers) who sort through garbage to find items to sell, trade and eat. These people carry around all of their possessions with them all the time because they have no place to store them. If they had no access to or capability to get to a shelter and possible bathing, or access to toilets and laundry facilities, their hygiene was lacking. This again created social tensions in public places. These conditions created an upsurge in tuberculosis and other diseases in urban areas.Centers for Disease Control,"Prevention and Control of Tuberculosis Among Homeless Persons : Recommendations of the Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis", April 17, 1992 / 41(RR-5);001.Slutkin G. Management of tuberculosis in urban homeless indigents. Public Health Rep 1986;101(5):481-5. 17.McAdam J, Brickner PW, Glicksman R, Edwards D, Fallon B, Yanowitch P. Tuberculosis in the SRO/homeless population. In: Brickner PW, Scharer LK, Conanan B, Elvy A, Savarese M, eds. Health care of homeless people. New York: Springer, 1985:155-75. 18. In 1974, Kip Tiernan founded Rosie's Place in Boston, the first drop-in and emergency shelter for women in the United States, in response to the increasing numbers of needy women throughout the country. In 1979, a New York City lawyer, Robert Hayes, brought a class action suit before the courts, Callahan v. Carey, against the City and State, arguing for a person's state constitutional "right to shelter". It was settled as a consent decree in August 1981. The City and State agreed to provide board and shelter to all homeless men who met the need standard for welfare or who were homeless by certain other standards. By 1983 this right was extended to homeless women. .]] By the mid-1980s, there was also a dramatic increase in family homelessness. Tied into this was an increasing number of impoverished and runaway children, teenagers, and young adults, which created a new sub-stratum of the homeless population (street children or street youth).Tull, Tanya, "Beyond Shelter: Testimony of Tanya Tull, President/CEO Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunities House Committee on Financial Services March 28, 2009"Nunez, Ralph, "Family Homelessness in New York City: A Case Study", Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 116, No. 3 (Autumn, 2001), pp. 367-379, The Academy of Political Science.Gray, Steven, "Report Says 1 in 50 U.S. Kids Is Homeless", Time magazine, Tuesday, Mar. 10, 2009 Also, in the 1980s, in the United States, some federal legislation was introduced for the homeless as a result of the work of Congressman Stewart B. McKinney. In 1987, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act was enacted. Several organizations in some cities, such as New York and Boston, tried to be inventive about help to the swelling number of homeless people. In New York City, for example, in 1989, a street newspaper was created called "Street News" which put some homeless to work, some writing, producing, and mostly selling the paper on streets and trains.Harman, Dana, "Read all about it: street papers flourish across the US", The Christian Science Monitor, November 17, 2003. http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1117/p13s01-lihc.htm It was written pro bono by a combination of homeless, celebrities, and established writers. In 1991, in England, a street newspaper, following on the New York model was established, called The Big Issue and was published weekly.[http://www.bigissue.com/ The Big Issue] Its circulation grew to 300,000. Chicago has StreetWise which has the largest circulation of its kind in the United States, thirty thousand. Boston has a Spare Change News newspaper, founded in 1992 by a small group of homeless people in Boston, built on the same model as the others: homeless helping themselves. Seattle has Real Change, a $1 newsletter that directly benefits the homeless and also reports on economic issues in the area. Portland, Oregon has Street Roots, with articles and poetry by homeless writers, sold on the street for a dollar. More recently, Street Sense, in Washington, D.C. has gained a lot of popularity and helped many make the move out of homelessness. Students in Baltimore, MD have opened a satellite office for that street paper as well.[http://www.streetsense.org/ Street Sense website] 21st century In 2002, research showed that children and families were the largest growing segment of the homeless in America,FACS, "Homeless Children, Poverty, Faith and Community: Understanding and Reporting the Local Story", March 26, 2002 Akron, Ohio. http://www.facsnet.org/edu/progs/family_03-26-02.php3National Coalition for the Homeless, "Homeless Youth" 2005 and this has presented new challenges, especially in services, to agencies. Some trends involving the plight of the homeless have provoked some thought, reflection and debate. One such phenomenon is paid physical advertising, colloquially known as "sandwich board men"Schreiber Cindy, "Sandwich men bring in the bread and butter", Columbia (University) News Service, May 8, 2002. http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-05-08/syndication/Associated Press and CNN, "Pizza company hires homeless to hold ads", Tuesday, June 17, 2003. http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/06/17/offbeat.pizza.ap/ and another specific type as "Bumvertising". Another trend is the side effect of unpaid free advertising of companies and organizations on shirts, clothing and bags, to be worn by the homeless and poor, given out and donated by companies to homeless shelters and charitable organizations for otherwise altruistic purposes. These trends are reminiscent of the "sandwich board signs" carried by poor people in the time of Charles Dickens in the Victorian 1800s in EnglandVictorian London site, "Sandwich Men" and later during the Great Depression in the United States in the 1930s. In the USA, the government asked many major cities to come up with a ten year plan to end homelessness. One of the results of this was a "Housing first" solution, rather than to have a homeless person remain in an emergency homeless shelter it was thought to be better to quickly get the person permanent housing of some sort and the necessary support services to sustain a new home. But there are many complications of this kind of program and these must be dealt with to make such an initiative work successfully in the middle to long term.Abel, David, "For the homeless, keys to a home: Large-scale effort to keep many off street faces hurdles", Boston Globe, February 24, 2008.PBS, "Home at Last? -- A radical new approach to helping the homeless", NOW TV program, December 21, 2007. It has been reported that some formerly homeless people, when they finally were able to get their housing and life straightened out and return to a normal lifestyle, have donated money and volunteer service to the organizations which helped them when they were homeless.Solutions at Work, "Formerly Homeless Boston Man Donates Significant Portion of Social Security Retro-Check to the Organizations and People Who Gave Him a 'Hand Up'", 2002. Alternatively, some social service entities that help the homeless now employ formerly homeless individuals to assist in the care process. Homelessness has migrated toward rural and suburban areas. There are 1.6 million homeless people in shelters in 2009. The number of homeless people has not changed dramatically but the number of homeless families has increased according to a report of HUD.Wendy Koch."Homelessness in Suburbs Increases. USA Today, July 9, 2009: 3a The United States Congress appropriated $25 million in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants for 2008 to show the effectiveness of Rapid Re-housing programs in reducing family homelessness.National Alliance to End Homelessness, "Rapid Re-Housing", July 8, 2008.United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, "Homeless Assistance Programs"National Alliance to End Homelessness, "HUD and McKinney-Vento Appropriations", FY 2010 In February 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 part of which addressed homelessness prevention, allocating $1.5 billion for a Homeless Prevention Fund. The funding for it was called the "Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program" (HPRP), and was distributed using the formula for the Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) program.United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, "Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program" On May 20, 2009, President Obama signed the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act into Public Law (Public Law 111-22 or "PL 111-22"), reauthorizing HUD's Homeless Assistance programs. It was part of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. The HEARTH act allows for the prevention of homelessness, rapid re-housing, consolidation of housing programs, and new homeless categories. In the eighteen months after the bill's signing, HUD must make regulations implementing this new McKinney program. National Alliance to End Homelessness, "Summary of HEARTH Act", June 8, 2009"The HEARTH Act - An Overview", National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, Washington, D.C. In late 2009, some homeless advocacy organizations, such as the National Coalition for the Homeless, reported and published perceived problems with the HEARTH Act of 2009 as a HUD McKinney-Vento Reauthorization bill, especially with regard to privacy, definitional ineligibility, community roles, and restrictions on eligibile activities.National Coalition for the Homeless, "NCH Public Policy Recommendations: HUD McKinney-Vento Reauthorization", Washington, D.C., September 14, 2009 Russia and the USSR After the abolishment of serfdom in Russia in 1861, major cities experienced a large influx of former peasants who sought jobs as industrial workers in rapidly-developing Russian industry. These people often lived in harsh conditions, sometimes renting a room, shared between several families. There also was a large number of shelterless homeless. Immediately after the October Revolution a special program of "compression" ("уплотнение") was enabled: people who had no shelter were settled in flats of those who had large (4,5,6-livingroom) flats with only one room left to previous owners. The flat was declared state property. This led to a large number of shared flats where several families lived simultaneously. Nevertheless the problem of complete homelessness was mostly solved as anybody could apply for a room or a place in dormitory (the number of shared flats steadily decreased after large-scale residential building program was implemented starting in 1960s). By 1922 there were at least 7 million homeless children in Russia as a result of nearly a decade of devastation from World War I and the Russian Civil War.And Now My Soul Is Hardened: Abandoned Children in Soviet Russia, 1918-1930, By Thomas J. Hegarty, Canadian Slavonic Papers This led to the creation of a large number of orphanages. By 1930s the USSR declared the abolition of homelessness and any citizen was obliged to have a propiska - a place of permanent residency. Nobody could be stripped of propiska without substitution or refuse it without a confirmed permission (called "order") to register in another place. If someone wanted to move to another city or expand their living area, he had to find a partner who wanted to mutually exchange the flats. The right for shelter was secured in the Soviet constitution. Not having permanent residency was legally considered a crime. There were also virtually no empty and unused apartments in the cities: any flat where nobody was registered was immediately lent by the state at symbolic price to others who needed better living conditions. If a person who had permanent registration could not pay for shelter, nobody had right to evict them, only to demand money through a court. After the breakup of the USSR the problem of homelessness sharpened dramatically, partially because of the legal vacuum of early 1990s with some laws contradicting each other and partially because of a high rate of frauds in the realty market. In 1991 articles 198 and 209 of Russian criminal code which instituted criminal penalty for not having permanent residence were abolished. Because most flats had been privatized and many people sold their last shelter without success to buy another, there was a sharp increase of homeless. Renting apartments from a private owner became widespread (which usually only gives temporary registration and apartment owner could evict the leaser after the contract is over or if the money was not paid). In Moscow, the first overnight shelter for homeless was opened in 1992. In late 1990s certain amendments in law were implemented to reduce the rise in homelessness, such as prohibition of selling last flat with registered children. Nevertheless, the state is still obliged to give permanent shelter for free to anybody who needs better living conditions or has no permanent registration, because the right to shelter is still included in the constitution. This may take many years, though. Nobody still has the right to strip a person of permanent residency without their will, even the owner of the apartment. This creates problems for banks because mortgage loans became increasingly popular. Banks obliged to buy a new, cheaper flat to a person instead of the old one if the person fails to repay the loan, or wait until all people who live in the flat are dead. Several projects of special cheap 'social' flats for those who failed to repay mortgages were proposed to facilitate mortgage market. Contributing causes of homelessness in Paris, December 2006-January 2007, put there by the Enfants de Don Quichotte]] , India.]] .]] The major reasons and causes for homelessness as documented by many reports and studies include: [[United States Conference of Mayors]], "A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America's Cities: a 27-city survey", December 2001.United States Conference of Mayors, , December 2005, "Main Causes of Homelessness", p.63-64. http://www.sodexhousa.com/press-releases/pr122005.aspVanneman, Reeve, "Main Causes of Homelessness", University of MarylandCf. Levinson, Encyclopedia of Homelessness, article entry on Causes of Homelessness: Overview by Paul Koegel, pp.50-58. *Inavailability of employment opportunities. *Poverty, caused by many factors including unemployment and underemployment. *Lack of affordable healthcare. *War or armed conflict. *Mental disorder, where mental health services are unavailable or difficult to access. *Disability, especially where disability services are nonexistent or poor performing. *Substance abuse *Lack of affordable housing. An article in the November 2007 issue of Atlantic Monthly reported on a study of the cost of obtaining the "right to build" (i.e. a building permit, red tape, bureaucracy, etc.) in different U.S. cities. The "right to build" cost does not include the cost of the land or the cost of constructing the house. The study was conducted by Harvard economists Edward Glaeser and Kristina Tobio. According to the chart accompanying the article, the cost of obtaining the "right to build" adds approximately $600,000 to the cost of each new house that is built in San Francisco.A Tale of Two Town Houses, Atlantic Monthly, November 2007 *Domestic violence. *Relationship breakdown, particularly in relation to young people and their parents.Seymour, George "The Young and the Homeless" Online Opinion April 9, 2010 *Prison release and re-entry into society. *Natural disaster, including but not limited to earthquakes and hurricanes.An example is the 1999 Athens earthquake in Greece in which many middle class people became homeless and are still without a home as of 2009, with some of them living in containers, especially in the Nea Ionia earthquake survivors container city provided by the government, and in most cases their only property that survived the quake was their car. Such people are known in Greece as seismopathis meaning earthquake-struck. *Forced eviction - In many countries, people lose their homes by government order to make way for newer upscale high rise buildings, roadways, and other governmental needs.Elder, James, "Helping homeless victims of forced evictions in Zimbabwe", UNICEF, 20 June 2005 The compensation may be minimal, in which case the former occupants cannot find appropriate new housing and become homeless. *Mortgage foreclosures where mortgage holders see the best solution to a loan default is to take and sell the house to pay off the debt. The popular press made an issue of this in 2008; the real magnitude of the problem is undocumented.Goodman, Peter S., "Foreclosures Force Ex-Homeowners to Turn to Shelters", The New York Times, October 18, 2009 A substantial percentage of the U.S. homeless population are individuals who are chronically unemployed or have difficulty managing their lives effectively due to prolonged and severe drug and/or alcohol abuse.Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (2006-09-17). Homelessness: The Causes and Facts. Retrieved 2006-05-10. Substance abuse can cause homelessness from behavioral patterns associated with addiction that alienate an addicted individual's family and friends who could otherwise provide support during difficult economic times. Increased wealth disparity and income inequality causes distortions in the housing market that push rent burdens higher, making housing unaffordable.For example, cf. "News Release: Personal Income for Metropolitan Areas, 2006", Bureau of Economic Analysis. Dr. Paul Koegel of RAND Corporation, a seminal researcher in first generation homelessness studies and beyond, divided the causes of homelessness into structural aspects and then individual vulnerabilities. Proposed solutions to homelessness Housing First / Rapid Re-housing In the USA, the government asked many major cities to come up with a ten year plan to end homeless problem; and one of the results of this was a "Housing first" solution, also known as "rapid re-housing", which quickly gets a homeless person permanent housing of some sort and the necessary support services to sustain a new home. There are many complications of this kind of program and these must be dealt with to make such an initiative work successfully in the middle to long term.Karash, Robert L., "Housing Lost, Housing Regained, Housing Kept", Spare Change News, Boston, February 25, 2010. Supportive housing Supportive housing is a combination of housing and services intended as a cost-effective way to help people live more stable, productive lives. Supportive housing works well for those who face the most complex challenges—individuals and families confronted with homelessness and who also have very low incomes and/or serious, persistent issues that may include substance abuse, addiction or alcoholism, mental illness, HIV/AIDS, or other serious challenges to a successful life. Pedestrian Villages In 2007 urban designer and social theorist Michael E. Arth proposed a controversial national solution for homelessness that would involve building nearly carfree Pedestrian Villages in place of what he terms "the current band-aid approach to the problem."Michael E. Arth, "A National Solution to Homelessness That Begins Here", Orlando Sentinel, January 20, 2007 A prototype, Tiger Bay Village, was proposed for near Daytona Beach, FL. He claims that this would be superior for treating the psychological as well as psychiatric needs of both temporarily and permanently homeless adults, and would cost less than the current approach. It would also provide a lower cost alternative to jail, and provide a half-way station for those getting out of prison. Work opportunities, including construction and maintenance of the villages, as well as the creation of work force agencies would help make the villages financially and socially viable.Tom Leonard, "Daytona may give vagrants their own resort." Telegraph.co.uk, January 24, 2007 link to articleEtan Horowitz, "Developer defends homeless-village concept", Orlando Sentinel, January 27, 2007Rebbecca Mahoney, "Homeless village or leper colony?" Orlando Sentinel, January 20, 2007 Transitional housing Transitional Housing provides temporary housing for the certain segments of the homeless population, including working homeless, and is set up to transition their residents into permanent, affordable housing. It's not in an emergency homeless shelter but usually a room or apartment in a residence with support services. The transitional time can be short, for example one or two years, and in that time the person must file for and get permanent housing and usually some gainful employment or income, even if Social Security or assistance. Sometimes, the transitional housing residence program charges a room and board fee, maybe 30% of an individual's income, which is sometimes partially or fully refunded after the person procures a permanent place to live in. Federal funding for transitional housing programs was originally allocated in the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1986.Burt, Martha R., "Characteristics of Transitional Housing for Homeless Families Final Report", Urban Institute, Washington, DC, September 7, 2006,Dordick, Gwendolyn A., "Recovering from Homelessness: Determining the 'Quality of Sobriety' in a Transitional Housing Program", Journal Qualitative Sociology, Volume 25, Number 1 / March, 2002, Springer Netherlands.Karash, Robert L., "The Graduate", Spare Change News, Boston, March 11, 2010 Problems faced by people who are homeless The basic problem of homelessness is the human need for personal shelter, warmth and safety, which can be literally vital. Other basic difficulties include: * personal security, quiet, and privacy, especially for sleeping * safekeeping of bedding, clothing and possessions, which may have to be carried at all times * hygiene and shaving facilities * cleaning and drying clothes * obtaining, preparing and storing food in small quantities * keeping contacts, without a permanent location or mailing address * hostility and legal powers against urban vagrancy. Homeless people face many problems beyond the lack of a safe and suitable home. They are often faced with many social disadvantages also, reduced access to private and public services and reduced access to vital necessities: * Reduced access to health care and dental services. * Limited access to education. * Increased risk of suffering from violence and abuse. * General rejection or discrimination from other people. * Loss of usual relationships with the mainstream * Not being seen as suitable for employment. * Reduced access to banking services * Reduced access to communications technology Violent crimes against the homeless There have been many violent crimes committed against the homeless.Fantz, Ashley, "Teen 'sport killings' of homeless on the rise", CNN, February 20, 2007. A 2007 study found that the rate of such crimes is increasing.Lewan, Todd, "Unprovoked Beatings of Homeless Soaring", Associated Press, April 8, 2007.National Coalition for the Homeless, Hate, "Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A report on Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness, 2008", August 2009. Assistance and resources available to the homeless Most countries provide a variety of services to assist homeless people. They often provide food, shelter and clothing and may be organized and run by community organizations (often with the help of volunteers) or by government departments. These programs may be supported by government, charities, churches and individual donors. In 1998, a study by Koegel and Schoeni of a homeless population in Los Angeles, California, reported that a significant number of homeless do not participate in government assistance programs, and the authors reported being puzzled as to why that was, with the only possible suggestion from the evidence being that transaction costs were perhaps too high.Schoeni, Robert F & Koegel, Paul, 1998. "Economic Resources of the Homeless: Evidence from Los Angeles," Contemporary Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 295-308, July. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Administration have a special Section 8 housing voucher program called VASH (Veterans Administration Supported Housing), or HUD-VASH, which gives out a certain number of Section 8 subsidized housing vouchers to elegible homeless and otherwise vulnerable US armed forces veterans.The Department of Housing and Urban Development and VA's Supported Housing (HUD-VASH) Program Social supports While some homeless people are known to have community with one another,Wagner, David. Checkerboard Square: Culture and Resistance in a Homeless Community (Boulder: Westview Press), 1993. ISBN 0813315859 providing each other various types of support,Snow, David A. and Leon Anderson. Down on their Luck: A Study of Homeless Street People (Berkeley: University of California Press), 1993. people who are not homeless also may provide them friendship, food, relational care, and other forms of assistance. Such social supports may be done through a formal process, such as under the auspices of a non-governmental organization, religious organization, or homeless ministry, or may be done on an individual basis. Income sources Many non-profit organizations such as Goodwill Industries maintain a mission to "provide skill development and work opportunities to people with barriers to employment", though most of these organizations are not primarily geared toward homeless individuals. Many cities also have street newspapers or magazines: publications designed to provide employment opportunity to homeless people or others in need by street sale. While some homeless have paying jobs, some must seek other methods to make money. Begging or panhandling is one option, but is becoming increasingly illegal in many cities. Despite the stereotype, not all homeless people panhandle, and not all panhandlers are homeless.Karash, Robert L., "Spare Change?", Spare Change News, Boston, March 25, 2010Sennott, Adam, "Panhandling on Beacon Hill: The Lowdown on a Reported Crackdown", Spare Change News, Boston, June 4, 2010 Another option is busking: performing tricks, playing music, drawing on the sidewalk, or offering some other form of entertainment in exchange for donations. In cities where plasmapheresis centers still exist, homeless people may generate income through frequent visits to these centers. Homeless people have been known to commit crimes just to be sent to jail or prison for food and shelter. In police slang, this is called "three hots and a cot" referring to the three hot daily meals and a cot to sleep on given to prisoners. Invented in 2005, in Seattle, Bumvertising, an informal system of hiring the homeless to advertise by a young entrepreneur, is providing food, money, and bottles of water to sign-holding homeless in the Northwest. Homeless advocates accuse the founder, Ben Rogovy, and the process, of exploiting the poor and take particular offense to the use of the word "bum" which is generally considered pejorative."Web-Entrepreneur Banks of Bum-Vertising: Homeless Advocates Say He's Exploiting the Poor." ABC News Original Report. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=1028240&page=1—accessed August 30, 2005.Rowe, Claudia, [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/240452_bumvertising13.html "Bumvertising" stirs debate : Idea by young entrepreneur draws worldwide attention -- both positive and negative], Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Tuesday, September 13, 2005 In October 2009, the Boston Globe carried a story on so-called cyberbegging, or Internet begging, which was reported to be a new trend worldwide.Abel, David, "Panhandlers move from street to Internet: Online sites offer a fertile venue for some in need", Boston Globe, October 26, 2009. Australia In Australia the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) is a joint Commonwealth and state government program which provides funding for more than 1,200 organisations which are aimed to assist homeless people or those in danger of becoming homeless, as well as women and children escaping domestic violence http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10191. They provide accommodation such as refuges, shelters and half-way houses, and offer a range of supported services. The Commonwealth has assigned over $800 million between 2000-2005 for the continuation of SAAP. The current program, governed by the Supported Assistance Act 1994, specifies that "the overall aim of SAAP is to provide transitional supported accommodation and related support services, in order to help people who are homeless to achieve the maximum possible degree of self-reliance and independence. This legislation has been established to help the homeless people of the nation and help rebuild the lives of those in need, the joining of the states also helps enhance the meaning of the legislation and demonstrates the collaboration of the states and their desire to improve the nation as best they can. United States Housing First is an initiative to help the homeless get re-integrated into society, and out of homeless shelters. It was initiated by the federal government's Interagency Council on Homelessness. It asks cities to come up with a plan to end chronic homelessness. In this direction, there is the belief that if homeless people are given independent housing to start off with, with some proper social supports, then there would be no need for emergency homeless shelters, which it considers a good outcome. However this is a controversial position.Graves, Florence; Sayfan, Hadar, "First things first: 'Housing first,' a radical new approach to ending chronic homelessness, is gaining ground in Boston", Boston Globe, Sunday, June 24, 2007.Roncarati, Jill, "Homeless, housed, and homeless again", Journal of the American Academy of Physician's Assistants, June 2008. Miami, Florida's Community Partnership for Homeless launched a national outreach program in 2008 to help other communities throughout the United States address homelessness. Since its inception in 1993, CPH has served nearly 76,000 residents with a successful outplacement rate of nearly 62 percent in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The number of homeless people in the county has declined by 83 percent. The national program shares CPH's model of Homeless Assistance Centers, job training programs, on-site childcare, housing assistance and more. The organization also provides background on its unique funding structure and partnerships within the community.Community Partnership for Homeless - webpage In Boston, Massachusetts, in September 2007, an outreach to the homeless was initiated in the Boston Common, after some arrests and shootings, and in anticipation of the cold winter ahead. This outreach targets homeless people who would normally spend their sleeping time on the Boston Common, and tries to get them into housing, trying to skip the step of an emergency shelter. Applications for Boston Housing Authority were being handed out and filled out and submitted. This is an attempt to enact by outreach the Housing First initiative, federally mandated. Boston's Mayor, Thomas Menino, was quoted as saying "The solution to homelessness is permanent housing". Still, this is a very controversial strategy, especially if the people are not able to sustain a house with proper community, health, substance counseling, and mental health supportive programs.St. Martin, Greg, "Seeking help for homeless on Common: Program hopes to offer housing", Boston Metro newspaper, Monday, September 17, 2007. In October 2009, as part of the city's Leading the Way initiative, Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston dedicated and opened the Weintraub Day Center which is the first city-operated day center for chronically homeless persons. It is a multi-service center, providing shelter, counseling, healthcare, housing assistance, and other support services. It is a 3,400 square foot facility located in the Woods Mullen Shelter. It is also meant to reduce the strain on the city's hospital emergency rooms by providing services and identifying health problems before they escalate into emergencies. It was funded by $3 million in grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the Massachusetts Medical Society and Alliance Charitable FoundationMassachsetts Medical Society and Alliance Charitable Foundation website, and the United States Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).Mayor's Office, City of Boston, "Mayor Menino Dedicates New Day Center for the Homeless", Press Release, October 14, 2009. In 2010 in New York City, where there were over 36000 homeless people in 2009"NYC Homeless Counts", New York City Department of Homeless Services, there was a mobile video exhibit in the streets showing a homeless person on a screen and asking onlookers and passersby to text with their cellphones a message for him, and they also could donate money by cellphones to the organization Pathways to Housing."Video Installation Encourages Homeless Activism In New York City", Huffington Post, March 9, 2010Memmott, Mark, "High-Tech Street Show Aims To Make Us 'See' Homeless, Raise Money", National Public Radio, March 10, 2010 Refuges for the homeless There are many places where a homeless person might seek refuge. * Outdoors: On the ground or in a sleeping bag, tent, or improvised shelter, such as a large cardboard box, dumpster in a park or vacant lot. * Shantytowns: Ad hoc campsites of improvised shelters and shacks, usually near rail yards, interstates and high transportation veins. * Derelict structures: abandoned or condemned buildings *'Squatting' in an unoccupied house where a homeless person may live without payment and without the owner's knowledge or permission. * Vehicles: cars or trucks are used as a temporary or sometimes long-term living refuge, for example by those recently evicted from a home. Some people live in vans, sport utility vehicles, covered pick-up trucks, station wagons, sedans, or hatchbacks . * Public places: Parks, bus or train stations, public libraries, airports, public transportation vehicles (by continual riding where unlimited passes are available), hospital lobbies or waiting areas, college campuses, and 24-hour businesses such as coffee shops. Many public places use security guards or police to prevent people from loitering or sleeping at these locations for a variety of reasons, including image, safety, and comfort. * Homeless shelters: such as emergency cold-weather shelters opened by churches or community agencies, which may consist of cots in a heated warehouse, or temporary Christmas Shelters. * Inexpensive boarding houses: Also called flophouses, they offer cheap, low-quality temporary lodging. * Residential hotels, where a bed as opposed to an entire room can be rented cheaply in a dorm-like environment. * Inexpensive motels also offer cheap, low-quality temporary lodging. However, some who can afford housing live in a motel by choice. For example, David and Jean Davidson spent 22 years at a UK Travelodge. * 24-hour Internet cafes are now used by over 5,000 Japanese "Net cafe refugees". An estimated 75% of Japan's 3,200 all-night internet cafes cater to regular overnight guests, who in some cases have become their main source of income. * Friends or family: Temporarily sleeping in dwellings of friends or family members ("couch surfing"). Couch surfers may be harder to recognize than street homeless peopleO'Neill, Susan, "Homeless advocates urge council to remember 'couch surfers'", Inside Toronto, Canada, 7 July 2006 * Underground tunnels such as abandoned subway, maintenance, or train tunnels are popular among the permanent homeless.Morton, Margaret, "The Tunnel: The Underground Homeless of New York City (Architecture of Despair)", Yale University Press, 1995. ISBN 0300065590Toth, Jennifer, "The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City", Chicago Review Press, October 1, 1995. ISBN 1556521901 The inhabitants of such refuges are called in some places, like New York City, "Mole People". Natural caves beneath urban centers allow for places where the homeless can congregate. Leaking water pipes, electric wires, and steam pipes allow for some of the essentials of living. Health care for the homeless Health care for the homeless is a major public health challenge.Aday, Lu Ann http://myprofile.cos.com/adayl96, "Health status of vulnerable populations", Annual Review of Public Health, 1994;15:487-509. http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.pu.15.050194.002415Bibliography on Healthcare for the Homeless, Homeless Healthcare-Houston (archived 2007)United States Department of Health and Human Services, "Healthcare for the Homeless". http://bphc.hrsa.gov/Hchirc/Ferguson, M., "Shelter for the Homeless", American Journal of Nursing, 1989, pp.1061-2.Lenehan, G., McInnis, B., O'Donnell, and M. Hennessey, "A Nurses' Clinic for the Homeless", American Journal of Nursing, 1985, pp.1237-40.Martin-Ashley, J., "In Celebration of Thirty Years of Caring: Pine Street Inn Nurses Clinic", Unpublished.Homeless Health Concerns - National Library of MedicineWood, David, (editor), "Delivering Health Care to Homeless Persons: The Diagnosis and Management of Medical and Mental Health Conditions", Springer Publishing Company, March 1992, ISBN 0-8261-7780-8Lee, Tony, "City launches homeless healthcare facility", Boston Metro, May 29, 2008.Zezima, Katie, "In Boston, House Calls for the Homeless", The New York Times, November 10, 2008 Homeless people are more likely to suffer injuries and medical problems from their lifestyle on the street, which includes poor nutrition, substance abuse, exposure to the severe elements of weather, and a higher exposure to violence (robberies, beatings, and so on). Yet at the same time, they have little access to public medical services or clinics."Health Care and Homelessness", National Coalition for the Homeless, July 2009 This is a particular problem in the US where many people lack health insurance: "Each year, millions of people in the United States experience homelessness and are in desperate need of health care services. Most do not have health insurance of any sort, and none have cash to pay for medical care."Basics of Homelessness, National Heath Care for the Homeless Council There are significant challenges in treating homeless people who have psychiatric disorders, because clinical appointments may not be kept, their continuing whereabouts are unknown, their medicines are not taken and monitored, medical and psychiatric histories are not accurate, and for other reasons. Because many homeless people have mental illnesses, this has presented a crisis in care.McQuistion, Hunter L.; Finnerty, Molly; Hirschowitz, Jack; Susser, Ezra S., "Challenges for Psychiatry in Serving Homeless People With Psychiatric Disorders", Psychiatric Services 54:669-676, May 2003Henry, Jean-Marc; Boyer, Laurent; Belzeaux, Raoul; Baumstarck-Barrau, Karine; Samuelian, Jean-Claude, "Mental Disorders Among Homeless People Admitted to a French Psychiatric Emergency Service", Psychiatric Services 61:264-271, March 2010 Homeless persons often find it difficult to document their date of birth or their address. Because homeless people usually have no place to store possessions, they often lose their belongings, including their identification and other documents, or find them destroyed by police or others. Without a photo ID, homeless persons cannot get a job or access many social services. They can be denied access to even the most basic assistance: clothing closets, food pantries, certain public benefits, and in some cases, emergency shelters. Obtaining replacement identification is difficult. Without an address, birth certificates cannot be mailed. Fees may be cost-prohibitive for impoverished persons. And some states will not issue birth certificates unless the person has photo identification, creating a Catch-22.National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, "Photo Identification Barriers Faced by Homeless Persons". This problem is far less acute in countries which provide free-at-use health care, such as the UK, where hospitals are open-access day and night, and make no charges for treatment. In the US, free-care clinics, especially for the homeless do exist in major cities, but they are usually over-burdened with patients. , by Grace Elizabeth Moore, Harvard Divinity School, Center for the Study of World Religions The conditions affecting the homeless are somewhat specialized and have opened a new area of medicine tailored to this population. Skin conditions, including Scabies, are common because homeless people are exposed to extreme cold in the winter and they have little access to bathing facilities. They have problems caring for their feet and have more severe dental problems than the general population.An oral health survey of homeless people in Hong Kong (2005) - University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, Community Health Projects http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B31788932 Diabetes, especially untreated, is widespread in the homeless population.Joslyn, Matthew I., M.D., et al., "Adapting Your Practice: Treatment and Recommendations for Homeless Patients with Diabetes Mellitus", June 2007, HCH Clinicians' Network. Specialized medical textbooks have been written to address this for providers.O'Connell, James, J, M.D., editor, et al. "The Health Care of Homeless Persons: a Manual of Communicable Diseases & Common Problems in Shelters & On the Streets", Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, 2004. http://www.bhchp.org/BHCHP%20manual/index.html There are many organizations providing free care to the homeless in countries which do not offer free medical treatment organised by the state, but the services are in great demand given the limited number of medical practitioners. For example, it might take months to get a minimal dental appointment in a free-care clinic. Communicable diseases are of great concern, especially tuberculosis, which spreads more easily in crowded homeless shelters in high density urban settings.Collet Marc, Menahem, Georges, Picard, Hervé, "Why patients attending free health centres seek care: Precalog Survey 1999-2000", Health Economics Letter, Issues in health economics, IRDES (Institute for Research and Information in Health Economics), Paris, France. n° 113- October 2006 There has been an ongoing concern and studies about the health and wellness of the older homeless population, typically ages fifty to sixty four years of age, and even older, as to whether they are significantly more sickly than their younger counterparts and if they are under-served.Watson, Dennis P.; George, Christine; Walker, Christopher, “Falling through the cracks”: health care needs of the older homeless population and their implications", in Kronenfeld, Jennie Jacobs, Care for Major Health Problems and Population Health Concerns: Impacts on Patients, Providers and Policy, Research in the Sociology of Health Care series, 2008, v.26, pp.187 - 204, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.Cohen, Carl I., "Aging and Homelessness", The Gerontologist (1999) 39(1): 5-15. In 1999, Dr. Susan Barrow of the Columbia University Center for Homelessness Prevention Studies reported in a study that the "age-adjusted death rates of homeless men and women were 4 times those of the general US population and 2 to 3 times those of the general population of New York City". In 2004, Boston Health Care for the Homeless in conjunction with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council published a medical manual called "The Health Care of Homeless Persons", edited by James J. O'Connell, M.D., specifically for the treatment of the homeless population.O'Connell, James J., M.D. editor, The Health Care of Homeless Persons, Boston Health Care for the Homeless & the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, 2004 In June 2008, in Boston, Massachusetts, the Jean Yawkey Place, a four-story, 77,653 square-foot building, was opened by the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. It is an entire full service building on the Boston Medical Center campus dedicated to providing health care for the homeless. It also contains a long term care facility, the Barbara McInnis House, which expanded to 104 beds, which is the first and largest medical respite program for homeless people in the United States.Jean Yawkey Place - Boston Health Care for the HomelessCromer, Janet M., R.N., "Moving with Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program: The new home for BHCHP's Barbara McInnis House is a place of healing, trust, and hope", On Call magazine, August 7, 2008 Tracking and counting the homeless In the USA, the federal government's HUD agency has required federally funded organizations to use a computer tracking system for the homeless and their statistics, called HMIS (Homeless Management Information System).Roman, Nan, "Tracking the Homeless: An Overview of HMIS", ShelterForce Magazine, Issue #132, November/December 2003, National Housing Institute.HUD information on HMISPerl, Libby, "The Home Management Information System", Congressional Research Service, CRS Report RS22328, November 2005. There has been some opposition to this kind of tracking by privacy advocacy groups, such as EPIC.EPIC page on HMIS privacy However, HUD considers its reporting techniques to be reasonably accurate for homeless in shelters and programs in its Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, "HUD Reports Drop in the Number of Chronically Homeless Persons: More resources and better reporting contribute to annual declines", 2007 data Actually determining and counting the number of homeless is very difficult in general due to their lifestyle habits.Hewitt, Christopher, "Estimating the Number of Homeless: Media Misrepresentation of an Urban Problem", Journal of Urban Affairs, Wiley InterScience publishing, Volume 18 Issue 4, Pages 431 - 447, 28 June 2008Freeman, Richard B. and Brian Hall. "Permanent Homelessness in America?", Population Research and Policy Review, Vol. 6, (1987), pp. 3-27. There are so-called "hidden homeless" out of sight of the normal population and perhaps staying on private property."Los Angeles County Homelessness Fact Sheet #1 Number of Homeless People Nightly" Various countries, states, and cities have come up with differing means and techniques to calculate an approximate count. For example, a one night "homeless census count", called a point-in-time (PIT) count, usually held in the early Winter, for the year, is a technique used by a number of American cities, especially Boston, Massachusetts.Emergency Shelter Commission, City of Boston - see annual census reportsAnnual Homeless Census. City of Boston Los Angeles, California uses a mixed set of techniques for counting, including the PIT street count."The Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count" In 2003, The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had begun requiring a PIT count in all "Continuum of Care" communities which required them to report the count of people, housing status, and geographic locations of individuals counted. Some communities will give sub-population information to the PIT, such as information on veterans, youth, and elderly individuals as done in Boston.Martin, Melissa, "One, Two... 664,414: Calculating Homelessness in America", US SAMHSA, Homelessness Resource Center. Statistics for developed countries .]] In 2005, an estimated 100 million people worldwide were homeless.Capdevila, Gustavo, "Human Rights: More Than 100 Million Homeless Worldwide", IPS, Geneva. The following statistics indicate the approximate average number of homeless people at any one time. Each country has a different approach to counting homeless people, and estimates of homelessness made by different organizations vary wildly, so comparisons should be made with caution. :European Union: 3,000,000 (UN-HABITAT 2004) ::United Kingdom: 10,459 rough sleepers, 98,750 households in temporary accommodation (Department for Communities and Local Government 2005) :Canada: 150,000 (National Homelessness Initiative - Government of Canada)Government of Canada, "National Homelessness Initiative: Working Together" :Australia: On census night in 2006 there were 105,000 people homeless across Australia, an increase from the 99,900 Australians who were counted as homeless in the 2001 census Australian Bureau of Statistics, Media Release "Homelessness in Australia" :United States'The National Coalition for the Homeless, Fact Sheet on "Who is Homeless", August 2007.: According to HUD's July 2008 3rd Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, in a single night in January 2007, single point analysis reported to HUD showed there were 671,888 sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons nationwide in the United States. Also, HUD reported the number of chronically homeless people (those with repeated episodes or who have been homeless for long periods, 2007 data) as 123,833. 82% of the homeless are not chronically homeless, and 18% are (6% Chronically Homeless Sheltered, 12% Chronically Homeless Unsheltered). Their Estimate of Sheltered Homeless Persons during a One-Year Period, October 2006 to September 2007, that about 1,589,000 persons used an emergency shelter and/or transitional housing during the 12-month period, which is about 1 in every 200 persons in the United States was in a homeless facility in that time period. Individuals accounted for 1,115,054 or 70.2% and families numbered 473,541 or 29.8%. The number of persons in sheltered households with Children was about 130,968. :'Japan: 20,000-100,000 (some figures put it at 200,000-400,000)"In pictures: Japan's homeless", BBC News. Reports show that homelessness is on the rise in Japan since the mid-1990s.Ezawa, Aya, "Japan's New Homeless", Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, Springer Netherlands, Volume 11, Number 4, October, 2002, pp. 279-291 :There are more homeless men than homeless women in Japan because it is easier for women to get a job (they make less money than men do). Also Japanese families usually provide more support for women than they do for men.Asia: The Big Issue Japan Developing and undeveloped countries .]] The number of homeless people worldwide has grown steadily in recent years.Zarocostas, John, "Homelessness increasing all over the world", The Washington Times, April 11, 2005Capdevila, Gustavo, "Human Rights: More Than 100 Million Homeless Worldwide", IPS (Inter Press Service), March 30, 2005. In some Third World nations such as Nigeria, and South Africa, homelessness is rampant, with millions of children living and working on the streets.The Urban Poverty Group, "Urban Poverty Group submission to the Commission for Africa", Homeless International, December 2004UN-HABITAT, "The Challenge of Slums – UN-HABITAT’s new Global Report on Human Settlements", January 10, 2003. Homelessness has become a problem in the countries of China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines despite their growing prosperity, mainly due to migrant workers who have trouble finding permanent homes.YXC Project, UNEP/UNESCO, "Homeless: Developing Countries". "Homelessness has also become a problem in the cities of China, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines despite their growing prosperity, mainly due to migrant workers who have trouble finding permanent homes and to rising income inequality between social classes." For people in Russia, especially the youth, alcoholism and substance abuse is a major cause and reason for becoming and continuing to be homeless. The United Nations, United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat) wrote in its Global Report on Human Settlements in 1995: "Homelessness is a problem in developed as well as in developing countries. In London, for example, life expectancy among the homeless is more than 25 years lower than the national average. Poor urban housing conditions are a global problem, but conditions are worst in developing countries. Habitat says that today 600 million people live in life- and health-threatening homes in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The threat of mass homelessness is greatest in those regions because that is where population is growing fastest. By 2015, the 10 largest cities in the world will be in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Nine of them will be in developing countries: Mumbai, India - 27.4 million; Lagos, Nigeria - 24.4; Shanghai, China - 23.4; Jakarta, Indonesia - 21.2; São Paulo, Brazil - 20.8; Karachi, Pakistan - 20.6; Beijing, China - 19.4; Dhaka, Bangladesh - 19; Mexico City, Mexico - 18.8. The only city in a developed country that will be in the top ten is Tokyo, Japan - 28.7 million."United Nations, "United Nations: Global Report on Human Settlements" In 2008, Dr. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, referring to the recent report "State of the World's Cities Report 2008/2009"United Nations, UN-HABITAT, "State of the World’s Cities Report 2008/2009", 2008. ISBN 978-92-1-132010-7, said that the world economic crisis we are in should be viewed as a "housing finance crisis" in which the poorest of poor were left to fend for themselves.United Nations, "UN-HABITAT unveils State of the World’s Cities report", October 23, 2008, London Homelessness by country * Homelessness in Australia * Homelessness in Canada * Homelessness in England * Homelessness in Iraq * Homelessness in Israel * Homelessness in Japan * Homelessness in Scotland * Homelessness in the United States See also Other itinerant or homeless people or terms for this condition * Beggar * Derelict * Forgotten man * Freight train hopper * Hobo * Internally displaced person * Itinerant * Mendicant * Schnorrer * Street child * Tramp * Vagabond * Vagrant Socioeconomic issues or aspects of homeless life * Anti-homelessness legislation * Discrimination against the homeless * Flophouses * Homeless dumping * Panhandling and begging * Post traumatic stress disorder experienced by homeless war veterans and sexual abuse victims. * Squatting in abandoned houses References Bibliography *Bassuk, Ellen L.; Geller, Stephanie, "The Role of Housing and Services in Ending Family Homelessness" (2006). Housing Policy Debate. 17(4): 781-806) * *BBC News, "Warning over homelessness figures: Government claims that homelessness numbers have fallen by a fifth since last year should be taken with a health warning, says housing charity Shelter", Monday, 13 June 2005. *BBC Radio 4, "No Home, a season of television and radio programmes that introduce the new homeless.", 2006. *Beard, Rick, "On Being Homeless: Historical Perspectives", New York, Museum of the City of New York, 1987. *Booth, Brenda M., Sullivan, J. Greer, Koegel, Paul, Burnam, M. Audrey, "Vulnerability Factors for Homelessness Associated with Substance Dependence in a Community Sample of Homeless Adults", RAND Research Report. Originally published in: American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, v. 28, no. 3, 2002, pp. 429–452. *Brickner, Philip, [http://books.google.com/books?id=z2AhVAmqz5EC&printsec=frontcover Under the Safety Net: The Health and Social Welfare of the Homeless in the United States], W. W. Norton & Company, 1990. ISBN 0393028852 * *Burt, Martha R., et al., "Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve: Findings of the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients", Urban Institute, December 7, 1999 * Burt, Martha; et al., [http://books.google.com/books?id=8_XzWQEhRGgC&printsec=frontcover Helping America's homeless: emergency shelter or affordable housing?], Washington DC : Urban Institute Press, 1st edition, April 2001. ISBN 978-0877667018 *Burt, Martha R., "Evaluation of LA's HOPE: Ending Chronic Homelessness through Employment and Housing Final Report", Urban Institute, Washington DC, March 18, 2008 *Burt, Martha R., "Hilton Foundation Project to End Homelessness for People with Mental Illness in Los Angeles: Changes in Homelessness, Supportive Housing, and Tenant Characteristics Since 2005", Urban Institute, prepared for the Corporation for Supportive Housing Report, April 2008. * * *Cooper, Yvette, MP, "Effective Homelessness Prevention", April 12, 2006. * *Coyne, Barry V. (editor), "Homelessness: A Bibliography", New York : Nova Science Publishers, August 2, 2006. ISBN 1600213065 *Culhane, Dennis, "Responding to Homelessness: Policies and Politics", 2001. *Culhane, Dennis, "The Homeless Shelter and the Nineteenth Century Poorhouse: Comparing Notes from Two Eras of 'Indoor Relief'" * * * Dreier, Peter; Appelbaum, Richard, "American Nightmare: Homelessness", Challenge magazine, v.34, n.2, March/April 1991, pp. 46–52. * * *Friedman, Donna Haig, et al. (June 2007). "Preventing Homelessness and Promoting Housing Stability : A Comparative Analysis", The Boston Foundation and UMASS/Boston Center for Social Policy. * * Hoch, Charles; Slayton, Robert A., New Homeless and Old: Community and the Skid Row Hotel, Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 1989. ISBN 0877226008 * * * *Jordan, Katy, "Sharp rise in state’s homeless", Boston Herald, Wednesday, July 30, 2008 * * Koebel, C. Theodore, [http://books.google.com/books?id=kHYjdbfQDNUC&printsec=frontcover Shelter and Society: Theory, Research, and Policy for Nonprofit Housing], SUNY Press, 1998. ISBN 0791437892 * Kuhlman, Thomas L., Psychology on the streets : mental health practice with homeless persons, New York : J. Wiley & Sons, 1994. ISBN 0471552437 * * * * * *Paige, Connie, [http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/10/06/homelessness_hits_record_high/ Homelessness hits record high: Advocates expect numbers to grow amid economic downturn and ask for state aid], The Boston Globe, October 6, 2008 * Quigley, John M.; Raphael, Steven, "The Economics of Homelessness: The Evidence from North America", European Journal of Housing Policy 1(3), 2001, 323–336 *Redburn, F. Stevens; Buss, Terry F., Responding to America's Homeless: Public Policy Alternatives, Praeger, 1986. * * *Schutt, Russell K., Ph.D., Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston. **Schutt, Russell K., et al., "Boston's Homeless, 1986-87: Change and Continuity", 1987. **Schutt, Russell K., Working with the Homeless: the Backgrounds, Activities and Beliefs of Shelter Staff, 1988. **Schutt, Russell, K., "Homeless Adults in Boston in 1990: A Two-Shelter Profile", 1990. **Schutt, Russell K., Garrett, Gerald R., "Responding to the Homeless: Policy and Practice", Topics in Social Psychiatry, 1992. ISBN 0-306-44076-8 **Schutt, Russell K., Byrne, Francine, et al., "City of Boston Homeless Services: Employment & Training for Homeless Persons", 1995. **Schutt, Russell K., Feldman, James, et al., "Homeless Persons’ Residential Preferences and Needs: A Pilot Survey of Persons with Severe Mental Illness in Boston Mental Health and Generic Shelters", 2004. * * *Swarms, Rachel L., "Number of homeless reported down 30%: Officials say 'housing first' strategy a success", Boston Globe, New York Times News Service, July 30, 2008 * * * * * *United States Department of Health and Human Services, "Ending Chronic Homelessness: Strategies for Action", Report from the Secretary's Work Group on Ending Chronic Homelessness, March 2003. *Yoon, Il-Seong, "A Study on the Homeless in South Korea", Pusan National University; International Critical Geography Group Conference, Taegu, Korea, 2000. http://econgeog.misc.hit-u.ac.jp/icgg/intl_mtgs/taegu2000.html Further reading * *Arumi, Ana Maria, Yarrow, Andrew L., "Compassion, Concern, and Conflicted Feelings: New Yorkers on Homelessness and Housing", Public Agenda Foundation, February 2007 *Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Housing and Community Development, Homelessness Commission, Commission to End Homelessness, "Report of the Special Commission Relative to Ending Homelessness in The Commonwealth", Final Report, December 2007 *Crosette, Barbara, "Homeless and Hungry Youths of India", The New York Times, December 23, 1990. *Friedman, Donna H., et al., "Preventing Homelessness and Promoting Housing Stability: A Comparative Analysis", The Boston Foundation, June 2007. *Institute of Medicine (U.S.), Committee on Healthcare for Homeless People, "Homelessness, Health, and Human Needs", Washington, D.C. : National Academy Press, 1988. ISBN 0309038359 *Hollis, Dawn, "The Other Side of the City, The Alligator, January 23, 2010. *Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, Springer Verlag http://www.springerlink.com/content/104940/?p=80f0018412f44b39a7a345daca4244af&pi=0 and Psycke-Logos Press.http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jpr/Journal_of_social_distress_homepage.html *Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, "Down & Out: A Manual on Basic Rights and Benefits for Homeless People", 2005-2006 edition, first published in 1984, 15 Bubier Street, Lynn, Massachusetts. * Katz, Jessica Ilana, "Homelessness, Crime, Mental Illness, and Substance Abuse: A Core Population with Multiple Social Service Needs", Department of Urban Planning and Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 2003 *Kenyon, Thomas, What You Can Do to Help the Homeless (Simon and Schuster, 1991) *Min, Eungjun, (editor), "Reading the Homeless: The Media's Image of Homeless Culture", Praeger Publishers, 1999. ISBN 0275959503 * National Coalition for the Homeless, "American Nightmare: A Decade of Homelessness in the United States", December 1989 *Nieto G., Gittelman M., Abad A. (2008). "Homeless Mentally Ill Persons: A bibliography review", International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation. 12(2) * O'Flaherty, Brendan, "Making room : the economics of homelessness", Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1996. ISBN 0674543424 * Office for Public Management (UK), "Tackling Homelessness: learning from New York", Seminar Report, London, England, February 2004 * Putnam, Kristen M., "Homelessness: Key Findings and Grantmaking Strategies", June 2002, Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation and Putnam Community Investment Consulting. * Russell, Jenna, "In their shoes: To better understand the plight of the homeless, Harvard student takes to the streets", Boston Globe, August 9, 2009 *Scanlon, John, "Homelessness: Describing the Symptoms, Prescribing a Cure", Heritage Foundation, Backgrounder #729, October 2, 1989 *Southard, Peggy Ann Dee, "Looking for Sanctuary: Staying on Publicly Owned Lands as a Response to Homelessness, a dissertation presented to the Department of Sociology and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy * Stringer, Lee, [http://books.google.com/books?id=uX2Ol9BnT_gC&printsec=frontcover Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street], 1st ed., New York : Seven Stories Press, 1998. ISBN 1888363576 * Tsesis, Alexander, "Eliminating the Destitution of America's Homeless", Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review, Vol. 75, No. 539, 2002, Temple University Beasley School of Law *University of Michigan Libraries, Selected Bibliography of Homelessness Resources *Wright, James D., "Address Unknown: the homeless in America", New York : A. de Gruyter, Edition: 3, 1989 External links *Homeless Statistics for Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States, all data from around the year 2001. *PBS, "Home at Last?", NOW series program, first aired on February 2, 2007. The topic was what will most help homeless people reenter the fabric of society. * * Category:Socioeconomics